Home / Government Institutions / Pakistan has demonstrated maturity and restraint, remaining committed to constructive and result-oriented dialogue to build peace and stability in South Asia: Syed Tariq Fatemi

Pakistan has demonstrated maturity and restraint, remaining committed to constructive and result-oriented dialogue to build peace and stability in South Asia: Syed Tariq Fatemi

Islamabad, October 17, 2014 (PPI-OT): Prime Minister’s Special Assistant, Tariq Fatemi, heading Pakistan’s delegation to the 10th ASEM Summit taking place in the Italian city of Milan, held a large number of bilateral meetings with world leaders, in addition to participating in the Summit engagements. These included the Presidents of South Korea and Switzerland, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, as well as the Foreign Ministers of China, Russia, Norway, Kazakhstan, Laos and the British Minister of State.

During the meetings, matters of common interest, including the gamut of bilateral relations, came up for discussion. The Special Assistant also briefed his interlocutors on the regional security situation, especially the escalation along the Line of Control and Working Border with India, following unprovoked violations of ceasefire by the Indian forces. He stressed that Pakistan had demonstrated maturity and restraint, remaining committed to constructive and result-oriented dialogue to build peace and stability in South Asia.

On Afghanistan, the Special Assistant reaffirmed Pakistan’s solidarity with the Afghan people, while expressing the confidence that Pakistan’s western neighbour would emerge as a stronger, more stable, and unified country.

The Special Assistant also delivered a statement in the Second Plenary Session of the Summit, whose thematic focus was “Global Matters in an Interconnected World.” He lauded the bi-regional forum for its contribution towards enhancing cooperation between Asia and Europe through sustained dialogue. He drew the world leaders’ attention to the depredations of climate change which was wreaking havoc on the economies of countries like Pakistan.

He called for joint global response for concrete mitigation measures and disaster management solutions through innovation and technology sharing. He also reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to Millennium Development Goals and the Post-2015 Development Agenda. He said that access to peaceful uses of civil nuclear energy through an inclusive, non-discriminatory and criteria-based framework was essential to enable developing countries to meet their growing energy needs.

Referring to the situation in Middle East, he called for addressing the causes that had led to the emergence of new militant entities, which illustrated the frightening fact that terrorism presented a global threat. Moreover, the world leaders needed to use their collective influence to finding a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue, in accordance with the UN resolutions.